A computer whizz who set up a fake social media profile to ‘groom’ a young girl over the internet has been jailed.

Luke Cooper claimed to be a teenage girl to engage the victim in sexual conversations, Burnley Crown Court heard.

His crime was only uncovered when Cooper was standing trial for making indecent images of children.

The court was told that the hearing was adjourned when Cooper, of Higher Antley Street, Accrington, tried to ‘bamboozle’ prosecution computer experts with his ‘cleverness’ by making false technical claims to prove his computer had been hacked.

But when officers carried out further enquiries they discovered the ‘sinister’ social media messages.

This week Cooper, 25, admitted having the indecent images on his computer along with causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and possessing a prohibited weapon. He was jailed for 26 months and also given a sexual harm prevention order and police notification requirements for 10 years.

The court was told that police had seized Cooper’s computers and also found 510 indecent images, 220 videos and illegal pepper spray.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Cooper claimed he had been hacked, during the trial.

Robert Golinski, prosecuting, said officers raided his former home on Windermere Avenue in Huncoat on March 15 last year and found the indecent images on a ‘virtual hard drive’.

The most serious pictures involved children as young as four or five and some included animals.

Mr Golinski told the court: “He put forward the defence that he had been hacked and someone had gained access remotely and placed this material on his computer.

“The trial was adjourned after the police expert was tasked by the defendant to carry out substantial further work.”

He said officers then found the social media messages the defendant had sent to the girl posing as a teenager.

The court heard how Cooper asked the victim to show him her tongue, her ‘tummy’ and underwear and asked if she was ‘wearing a bra’.

Cooper then asked her if she would like to ‘mess around with a guy who was 20’ and if she would ever have a ‘secret guy’, the court was told

Defence barrister Robert Elias said Luke Cooper needed to ‘grow up or man up’.

He told the court: “This is a somewhat isolated but clever young man whose computer skills probably transcended his teachers.

“Instead of constructing proper relationships with real people he lived his life on the internet where he was manifestly superior in terms of technique and ability.

“In doing that he started collecting pornography including illegal pornography, partly perhaps because he could do it and partly no doubt because he found some of it sexually stimulating.

“His mindset was such that when that was uncovered he thought he could run the defence that he had been hacked and his technical ability was such that this court baulked at trying to unravel that issue.

“He was so bright that he thought he could bamboozle us with his cleverness but he has come crashing back down to Earth.

“The actual harm done is relatively limited.

“The girl was not sexually abused. She was chatted up by somebody far too old to have any healthy interest in her.

“This sort of offending is worrying. He needs to grow up or in other words man up.”